


satisfaction is a strange thing

by excursus



Series: equal and opposite reaction [2]
Category: MythBusters RPF
Genre: Character Study, Fluff, M/M, could be seen as platonic or romantic, male/male relationship study
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:55:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24093196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/excursus/pseuds/excursus
Summary: Jamie gives Adam a key. They're not friends, not really, but there are times when the lines are blurred.(in the same series as "because you never know when to stop". Alternatively summarised as: Adam's character study from Jamie's point of view but there's an actual plot and it's kind of fluffy)
Relationships: Jamie Hyneman & Adam Savage, Jamie Hyneman/Adam Savage
Series: equal and opposite reaction [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1738957
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	satisfaction is a strange thing

**Author's Note:**

> I reread a ton of RPF lately and decided to finally finish the second one of my character studies.

Adam. 

Adam Savage, who always wears the same battered fedora and always acts like he's high on caffeine twenty-four seven; who never knows to get out of the way before he does something dangerous and never seems to dwell on pain for more than half a second.

It's true that he annoys Jamie to no end with his clutter and chaos and catastrophic mess, but it's also true that Adam's smart. Genius, even. 

Adam's annoying, no doubt about that, but sometimes he has these strokes of sheer mad brilliance that even Jamie probably wouldn't have been able to replicate. 

Jamie finds it strangely satisfying to have someone who can match his rhythm without breaking a sweat. 

He honestly hates to admit it, but he doesn't really hate Adam as much as he tries to. They're co-hosts and co-workers and co-producers, as close as working relationships can get, and they're good partners. But they're not friends, not really. Adam pisses Jamie off when he's reckless and doesn't think things through, and Jamie supposes that he must annoy Adam when he's cautious and slow and methodical. 

But they're like ticking metronomes, set at the same bpm but at different rates. They get ideas, they discuss and they argue and fight, but in the end they always come to a compromise with both their efforts combined for a better solution, just like when two metronomes set on a shiftable board never fail to eventually synchronise.

When Adam gets excited, he physically vibrates. It's less of a conscious decision and more of a invisible energy thrumming under his skin, clear and bright and unstoppable—in fact when Adam's excited, he's unstoppable. He breaks his glasses, burns himself on hot metal and cuts his arm on sharp wires they forgot to tape up, but nothing stops him. He's a force of energy that no one can stop, not even Jamie, and in a weird way Jamie learns to work around it. 

Adam's enthusiasm gives him the motivation to work overtime on builds, and consequently earns him a shop key that Jamie lasercuts from sheet metal. 

Unfortunately it's scrap left over from the roof of a house they built just to blow up (which Adam spraypainted a bright neon pink so it'd show up better on the high speed, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦!), and Adam's shit-eating grin tells Jamie that he's about to deliberately raise Jamie's blood pressure. 

'Shut up.' 

'I wasn't gonna say anything—' Adam protests. 

Jamie gives him the side eye. 'Do you want the key or not?' 

Adam scrambles to his side, tripping over his own feet and dropping his fedora as he does. 'Whoa, whoa there big guy, of course I do!' 

Jamie hands him the key, which Adam gratefully takes. 

Then Adam suddenly stoops, abrupt and graceless, to scoop up his fedora. He's sort of like a yoyo, falling down and snapping up again, correcting himself effortlessly when he falls over or makes a mistake. 

Jamie turns to leave. He still has the steel frame of a giant cube to weld together. He has to get it done before midnight, which is just an hour away, so he can get home at fifteen minutes to one. 

'Hey Jamie, wait! Thank you so much, man.' Adam calls after him. 

Jamie pauses and turns, the warm prickle of Adam's gaze resting on his back. 'Don't mention it,'

Adam grins from ear to ear, delighted. It reminds him of the one he does when he's figured out how to replicate a mechanism, or blown something up or witnessed a particularly interesting experiment. 

It's one of the things he likes about Adam. Adam never treats him any differently (Jamie knows he's a little weird. People tend to either ignore him or avoid him, but Adam never has). He lets Jamie have his space when he's thinking, gets in his personal space like he does with anyone else and gives Jamie time to finish his sentences. 

Jamie's never been good with words. He's never been able to string long descriptions together for the camera like Adam does, and has never felt comfortable with doing skits for the viewers. He feels exposed and vulnerable, like he's being picked apart for the audience to see, and it puts an uncomfortable itch in him for the rest of the day. He knows Adam knows he's uncomfortable, and that's why he's taken over for most of the costume-wearing and horsing around. 

He's kind of grateful now that he thinks about it, and so he decides. 

'You know, you could've just picked the lock. It's not like you don't know how to.' Jamie deadpans.

Adam laughs in the way that he laughs off camera, quieter and softer but just as genuine. The key jangles on the keychain he's just strung it on, along with his house and car keys. 

'I'd prefer to refrain from breaking the law. And besides, you'd skin me if I tried to sneak into the shop without your permission.'

'I'm relieved you apparently have at least some sense of self-preservation,' Jamie says, eyeing the new bruise on Adam's forearm where he hurt himself pinning back the spring-loaded arm for their throwbot. 

Adam huffs, jokingly, and takes a step forward to punch him lightly on the arm. 

'Seriously though, Hynie-man, breaking into M5 just to work overtime is the ridiculousest thing I've ever fucking heard. Like, 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺—' 

'Don't call me that.'

Adam laughs again. 'Just like the good old days, huh.'

Jamie doesn't know why exactly, but watching Adam indulge his terrible sense of humour, he feels a small, warm bubble of satisfaction rise inside him, like the industrial heaters they brought into the shop that one time when there was a cold temperature spike.

'Are you coming or not?' He gestures at the unfinished frame, and Adam lights up. 

'Of course! Dude, I just got overtime privileges! There's no way I'm gonna waste them not using them.' 

'Not many people would consider working late a privilege, you know,' Jamie says, as they set up the scissor lift for their welding helmets. 

'Since when was I a normal person?' Adam smacks the on button with enough enthusiasm to power a pneumatic cylinder, and Jamie winces. 

But Jamie can't disagree with Adam's logic. Neither of them are normal people, but satisfaction is a strange thing, and mythbusters is satisfaction at its purest. 

After all, it's not every job that they'd get to create things and destroy things, to get to play with guns and cars and mechanics for builds. 

And certainly, it's not every job that Jamie gets to work with Adam Savage.


End file.
